International Justice Mission (IJM) says it has trained 87 journalists across Ghana since December 2025 under its partnership with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to strengthen media reporting on child trafficking and labour exploitation.

The disclosure was made by IJM's Director of West Africa Programme, Anita Budu, during this year's National Justice Conference in Accra, held under the theme "Sustainable Funding for Child Protection Against Labour Exploitation."

According to Ms Budu, the training programme has been rolled out in the five northern regions, the Volta and Oti regions, and most recently in Greater Accra through collaboration with GJA's regional chapters.

She described the initiative as one of several commitments made at last year's National Justice Conference that have since been implemented.

"We have trained 87 journalists through our partnership with the Ghana Journalists Association," she said, adding that the collaboration forms part of efforts to improve public awareness and media coverage of child trafficking and labour exploitation.

Ms Budu noted that the media initiative complements a separate partnership signed with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to strengthen public education on child protection issues.

She said the journalist training also supports IJM's broader efforts to improve data systems, public awareness and institutional responses to trafficking, describing these as critical "in our collective fight against exploitation and trafficking."

The IJM Director, however, did not provide details of the training curriculum or indicate whether the programme would be expanded to additional regions.

Her remarks come as child protection stakeholders continue to raise concerns about the increasing scale and complexity of child trafficking and labour exploitation in Ghana, with renewed calls for sustained investment in prevention, victim protection and public education.